JOSHUA'S COLUMN — Just a little ray of sunshine

Maybe you've heard the Gazette's windows were boarded up last week; we certainly heard about it.

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By Joshua Dixon, Staff Writer

Redwood Falls Gazette

By Joshua Dixon, Staff Writer

Posted Dec. 24, 2013 at 12:01 AM

By Joshua Dixon, Staff Writer

Posted Dec. 24, 2013 at 12:01 AM

Maybe you've heard the Gazette's windows were boarded up last week.

We certainly heard about it.

Startled people would come in to pay for their subscription renewals, and say, "Oh, you're still here!"

Several people asked me while I was out and about what was going on with the Gazette's windows covered with sheets of plywood.

They usually were careful to not make eye-contact with me until they had gotten a definite answer.

The answer is simple: drive by the Gazette offices today, and you'll see a new wall inset with three smaller windows.

One of our previous 1970s-era nearly-floor-to-ceiling plate glass windows got damaged earlier in the year. When we investigated, we discovered it would cost several thousand dollars to remove and replace just that one window.

Then if that replacement window got broken, we'd get hit with having to pay for that same expense all over again.

In the long-run it was a lot safer and more cost effective to put in a whole new front wall. Then if a plate of glass gets damaged we can just pop that one out and pop in a new window unit.

I see advantages and disadvantages to this new remodeling.

Advantages:

• Maybe I won't be blinded by cars parked in front of GuidePoint Pharmacy any more.

On cloudless mornings, when the angle of the sunlight hit the cars' windows juuuuuust right, the photons from the sun's core would travel 92 million miles just to bounce off a piece of tempered glass at the last nano-second and zap me right in the eyes when I was sitting at my desk.

Hopefully the new wall will reduce that.

• The front half of the Gazette offices should be warmer during the winter months.

Disadvantages:

• Less sunlight.

I don't know about you, but I can only sit in an office without sunlight for so long.

For the past week, the Gazette staff has been dealing with dark green and blue plastic sheets hung up to protect us from dust in the air. As a result, most of us sitting at our desks can't see any sunlight at all.

We've gone from having a good view of life out on S. Washington Street to feeling as we're siting in a submarine four miles under the ocean.

Once I spent a couple years working in an office that had only one sliver of sunlight visible from my desk. Other than that one narrow slice of window, it was just overheard fluorescents everywhere you looked.

I'd take the fluorescent for as long as I could, then lean back in my chair and crane my neck to see that little sliver of sunlight visible through two panes of glass in another room.

Page 2 of 2 - It was like being splashed with cool water after a day sweltering in the desert.

It's a small thing, but it's huge to be able to know if it is cloudy or sunny at that moment, or approximately what time it is from the angle of the sun outside.

• One other disadvantage of the new wall: I won't be able to see when someone walks their dogs by at night.